As electric cars arrive in American garages, drivers are going to have to start thinking of them more like cellphones and less like hungry children.

Just as we've learned to plug our phones in at night if we want to use them in the morning, we'll need to remember to plug in the car if we want to get to work. This will replace the old thinking in which, as the gas gauge approached empty, we lived in confidence that we could duck into a nearby gas station to top off the tank, just as we know we can find a grocery store or fast-food place if the kids get hungry. The infrastructure for recharging electric cars isn't that developed yet.

The Obama administration is buying 116 Chevrolet Volts and other plug-in electric vehicles -- despite their high cost -- and installing charging stations in five cities.

All but 15 of the electric vehicles will be General Motors' Volt extended-range electric. The General Services Administration didn't say what price it is going to pay, but the Volt compact cars are priced at $41,000 for consumers. Although the move is aimed at spurring electric-car adoption, it's not that the Volt was a slow seller: GM is basically sold out of the car through the end of the year because of limited production.

At least the electrics will be pittance compared to the 650,000 vehicles that the government manages overall in its fleet.

The charging stations for government vehicles will be installed in Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, the Associated Press reports.

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt—the world’s first mass-produced extended-range electric vehicle—recently added another impressive recognition to its increasingly crowded trophy case when it was named “World Green Car of the Year” at the New York International Auto Show.

“The selection of the Volt as the World Green Car is a further proof point of the fuel-efficient technologies that are now being offered by the Chevrolet brand around the world,” said Rick Scheidt, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. “This award, and the others that have preceded it, validate the efforts of the development team to build a truly remarkable vehicle with the potential to transform transportation around the globe.”

The groundbreaking 2011 Chevrolet Volt won a major new honor recently when the world’s first extended-range electric vehicle was recognized with a Gold Medal from the 2011 Edison Awards. Inspired by the persistence and excellence of American inventor Thomas Alva Edison—who earned more than 1,000 U.S. patents—the awards are given annually to recognize the top achievements in innovation from around the country.

The Volt more than lives up to that ideal, thanks to industry advances in key areas like aerodynamics and powertrain development. Hours of painstaking work in GM wind tunnels make the Volt the most aerodynamic vehicle ever sold by Chevrolet, while the car’s incredible propulsion system is allowing drivers to go more than 1,000 miles between fill ups. That’s because the Volt can deliver up to 50 miles of all-electric, no-emissions driving on a routine overnight charge.

The advanced lithium-ion batteries in the Chevrolet Volt are a key enabler of the car’s environmentally friendly mission, and not just because they can help the drivers achieve an emissions-free, all-electric driving range of up to 50 miles. Showcasing GM’s long-time dedication to recycling, 10 environmental and facilities engineers from General Motors, along with a group of local kids from Detroit’s Lasky Recreation Center, recently teamed up to hatch a new way to get the most from the Volt’s batteries: Converting scrap battery covers—which would have otherwise ended up getting tossed out with the trash—into nesting boxes for the wood ducks, screech owls and other bird life living at GM facilities across the country.

“This is a great example of finding an alternative use for something we receive in our assembly plant every day,” said John Bradburn, manager of waste-reduction efforts for GM. “Our employees think about waste differently than most … they view it as a challenge to keep items in their use phase.”

The acclaimed Chevrolet Volt has just been named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The electric car with extended-range capability achieved “good” scores in four types of crash tests, and it offers electronic stability control.

Vehicle safety is evaluated through a range of tests that include The IIHS front and side crash tests, a rollover test, and simulated rear impacts to evaluate seat and head restraints for protection against neck injuries. The Volt excelled in all of these tests.